Feels Like the First Time

The summer of '88 will always be a memorable one for me. I had just moved to New Jersey from Pittsfield, Massachusetts to live with my Mom, and was getting ready to start high school.

I also experienced my first rock show.

If you knew me in '88 than you know that I was crazy for the group AC/DC. I had recently discovered them, and took to them in the same way that my older brother Keith had taken to KISS. AC/DC's music was loud and fast and the guys looked, for the most part, like average working class joes. They sang songs about Rock 'n Roll and what it meant to them; they sang about being rowdy and reckless, and most importantly they sang songs about American women and "those American thighs."

These were all things a 14 year old male could relate too (or at least fantasize about).

The band was coming to Madison Square Garden (The Mecca!) in NYC at the end of August. There was no doubt in my mind that I was going to be at that show, and my Mom in her infinite coolness agreed to let me go with Keith.

I don't remember the actual concert that much (I was much too overwhelmed). I remember where we sat, that we got there in the middle of the opening act (White Lion), and that I was sure live music wasn't ever going to sound as good again.

It was how rock music was meant to be heard: live, loud and with a couple of thousand other people who seemed just as crazy for the music. I'm sure I seemed crazy screaming along with the music and banging my head in the air to the beat.

I was able to completely give myself to the music back then, and that is something that I miss. I've seen lots of great shows in the past few years, but I've never really done more than stand there with my arms folded or in my pockets or even worse just stayed in my seat.

Maybe I'm too self aware, or think that I'm too cool. Or perhaps the music has never sounded as good as it did at The Garden that night in the summer of '88.